Would You Believe?
- Artery Crust
Judging form the label Pepperidge Farm Roasted White Meat Chicken Premium Pot Pie has 510 calories and 9 grams of saturated fat. But look again. Those numbers are for half pie. Eat the entire pie, as most people probably do, and you're talking more than 1,000 calories and 18 grams of sat fat. Then add the 13 grams of hidden trans fat (from the partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening) in each pie and you're up to 31 grams of artery clogging fat - that's far more than a day's allotment.
- Strip Tease
McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips sounds healthy. In fact ounce for ounce, the Selects are no healthier than the chain's Chicken McNuggets. A standard, five-strip order has 630 calories and 11 grams of artery clogging fat. That's about the same as a Big Mac, except the burger has 1,040 mg of sodium, while the Selects hit 1,550 mg, even without the salty sauce.
- Factory Reject
Each slice of The Cheesecake Factory 6 Carb Cheesecake has 610 calories, that's the same as you'd get from a slice of its Original Cheesecake. Think of it as an 8-ounce prime rib for dessert with 29 grams of saturated fat, a 1-½ days supply. The next time you step on the bathroom scale, you may never know that the carbs were missing.
- Everlasting Dove
Dove squeezes some 300 calories and an average of 11 grams of saturated fat (half a day's worth) into a tennis size serving (half a cup) of its Dove Ice Cream. That puts it in the same ballpark as Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs. With names like "Unconditional Chocolate," Dove is trying to link chocolate with romance. A scoop of its ice cream will fill your heart all right but not with love.
- Starbucks on Steroids
The Starbucks Venti (20 oz.) Caffé Mocha with whipped cream is more than a mere cup of coffee. Think of it as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in a cup. Few people have room in their diets for the 490 calories and 16 grams of bad fat that this hefty beverage supplies. But you can lose all the bad fat and all but 170 calories if you order a tall (12 oz.) with nonfat milk and no whipped cream.
- Angioplasta
"Fresh, pulled white meat chicken, fresh steamed broccoli and penne pasta, tossed in parmesan cream sauce. Topped with Wisconsin cheddar cheese, then baked," says Ruby Tuesday's menu entry for its Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta. Some patrons may know that the cheese and cream add saturated fat, but how much harm could they do? Enough to turn the dish into a 2,060-calorie mega meal with 128 grams of fat. Since the fat is mostly dairy, roughly 60 to 70 of those fat grams are probably saturated. To equal 2,060 calories, you'd have to swallow two sirloin steak dinners each with Caesar salad and buttered baked potato.
- Stack Attack
Unless you're suicidal why on earth would you want to wolf down a Burger King Quad Stacker, 4 hamburger patties, 4 slices of cheese, 8 strips of bacon, plus sauce and a bun? That's half a day's calories (1,000), one-and a half days' worth of saturated fat (30 grams), 3 grams of trans fat, and more than a day's sodium (1,800 mg).
- Salt's On
Campbell's Chunks Select, and red-and-white-label condensed soups are brimming with salt: Half a can
averages more than half of a person's daily quota of salt. Instead, try brands like Healthy Choice and Campbell's Healthy Request, which have about half as much sodium.
- Tortilla Terror
Interested in a Chipotle Chicken Burrito (tortilla, rice, pinto beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, and salsa)? Think of its 1,180 calories and 19 grams of saturated fat as three 6-inch Subway Steak and Cheese Subs. Plus, it has 2,900mg of sodium! Getting the burrito with no cheese or sour cream cuts the saturated fat by two-thirds, but you still end up with 950 calories and 2,690 mg of sodium.
- Razzle, Dazzle' em
A Mint Chip Dazzler at Haagen-Dazs stores (three scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, Oreos, chocolate sprinkles, and whipped cream) has 1,270 calories and 38 grains of saturated fat, that's two days' worth. Think of it as a T-bone steak with Caesar salad, and baked potato sour cream. But that's for dinner, yet many people have a Dazzler as a dessert after lunch or dinner!
Discover More Food Secrets Contact the nonprofit "Center for Science in the Public Interest" at 1875 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009 to receive a copy of their "Nutrition Action Health letter".
|
